SAM Magazine-Salt Lake City, Utah, Aug. 24, 2011-Marc Jenson, one of the principal players in the scheme to transform Elk Meadows ski area into the upscale Mount Holly Club, was found in violation of an unrelated fraud case and jailed yesterday after he failed to make any payments toward a $4.1 million court-ordered restitution. Later in the day...

SAM Magazine-Denver, Aug. 22, 2011-According to the most recent data released by the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP), reservation activity in July was up 8.2 percent compared to July 2010, thanks in part to the 4th of July holiday falling on a Monday, creating a three-day weekend. The strong results continued the trend of the past six mont...

SAM Magazine traveled to Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford, N.H., for another installment of the SAM CAM series. The resort recently invested $2.1 million in off-season attractions, all of which debuted this summer, with great success. First up on SAM's tour was the Aerial Treetop Adventure, which includes 91 different challenges and is consi...

SAM Magazine--August 17, 2011--Vail Resorts announced a worldwide multi-year partnership with Olympic gold medalist Shaun White. White will represent all six of Vail's ski areas (Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and Northstar-at-Tahoe), with Northstar acting as his home mountain and primary training venue. In fact, White will de...

SAM Magazine--August 15, 2011--The Whistler Mountain Bike Park hosted the millionth unique rider Friday, August 12. In its twelfth season of operation, Whistler's park is the first lift-accessed mountain bike park to reach this number. The lucky guest, Ryan Domm, was greeted by confetti guns and walked away with a season pass for the remainder o...

SAM Magazine--August 11, 2011--Whistler-Blackcomb released its third quarter results yesterday and the news was good and bad. The first thing to note about the numbers is that on November 9, 2010, Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. (the corporation) completed an initial public offering and concurrently acquired a 75% interest in both Whistler and Bla...

SAM Magazine visited Highland Mountain Bike Park in Northfield, N.H., for another installment of the SAM CAM series. Highland Mountain Bike Park, formally Highland Ski Area, was purchased by businessman Mark Hayes in 2003. He transformed the 200-acre area into a state-of-the-art, lift-serviced mountain biking facility with a 9,100-square-foot indoo...

SAM Magazine--August 5, 2011--Some big names are behind the auction of Powderhorn yesterday: Former Vail exec Andy Daly, along with Ken and Tom Gart (formerly of Gart Bros.), were behind the new corporation that bought Powderhorn Resort and a 700-acre parcel for $1.4 million. The new company is called Powderhorn Partners. We will report more det...

SAM Magazine-Burlington, Vt., Aug. 5, 2011-Members of the ASTM F27 Committee on Snow Skiing met in mid-July to consider expanding the committee's scope to include terrain park jumping features (ASTM stands for the American Society for Testing and Materials). The move, which is expected to be approved, would put ASTM in the business of considering s...

SAM Magazine--August 4, 2011--According to published reports, Powderhorn Resort, Colo., was sold at a live auction today for $2,083,950. The auction consisted of six lots--two sold to one bidder and the other four to separate buyers. The first lot was the ski area, including lifts, day lodge, parking areas, office, two maintenance shops, rolling st...

SAM Magazine-Windham, N.Y., Aug. 4, 2011-Windham Mountain has named David "Chip" Seamans general manager and chief operating officer, effective Sept. 1. Seamans replaces president and general manager Tim Woods, who is assuming ownership of Woods Valley, a ski area in central New York that was created by his late father. Woods will continue to wo...

SAM Magazine--August 3, 2011-- Spirit Mountain, Minn., was set to debut its latest addition to the area's Adventure Park, the "Timber Flyer" zipline, but the weather had different plans. Thanks to a lightning strike on August 1 during severe storms, the August 4 grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 700-foot ride will be delayed. The...

SAM Magazine--August 1, 2011--The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a federal judge's ruling in favor of Copper Mountain, Colo., which dismissed a lawsuit brought against the ski area after a 2006 accident. According to the AP, the lawsuit was filed by Dr. Rajeev Kumar and claimed the resort was negligent in not expressly labeling a corni...

SAM Magazine--August 1, 2011--Telluride Ski Resort is inviting fans to be a part of the area's marketing effort. The resort has created a survey whereby participants will view a compilation of ads targeted to different demographic groups with different images, styles and text, and choose their favorites. Once the results are in, Telluride will adju...

SAM Magazine-Squaw Valley, July 27, 2011-Squaw Valley USA has detailed the first two years of a five-year, $50 million capital improvement plan that will impact the on-mountain and base village experience. Plans include everything from new food and hospitality offerings to new beginner and advanced high-speed chairlifts, trail improvements and a st...